


Lions make you Brave

by dorkpatroller



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, Gen, Gift Fic, M/M, baby sieg, i owed this to lindsay for MONTHS, literally a tiny christmas bullshit fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 00:58:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12972228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorkpatroller/pseuds/dorkpatroller
Summary: Inigo mislabeled the gift meant for his son.





	Lions make you Brave

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lieano](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lieano/gifts).



> This is very long overdue. Like probably May overdue. I'm sorry it took so long but on a related note it fits right into the Christmas aesthetic right now.

“Oh.”

 

Xander stares down into the open box. It’s nothing special, just a Christmas gift. One among many, many gifts that were under their tree.  Once Siegbert was born the pile of gifts grew large. Now that he’s a year old, it’s even larger.

 

Xander and Inigo usually buy each other a few gifts. His husband usually a few lesser gifts and one nice one. Xander tends to do two or three practical gifts and one that Inigo will love with certainty. This is just the first box Xander has opened that was labeled for him.

 

Inigo is a little distracted with helping their son. Most children love to tear open wrapping paper by the time they’re this age. Siegbert is reluctant. He doesn’t talk much, but he doesn’t have to. Inigo knows his little boy. He doesn’t want to mess up the pretty paper. Inigo laughs and crouches beside him and shows him how to open the gift from the seam and… wouldn’t you know it, Siegbert picks it up quick and opens his gift with minimal paper damage.

 

It’s one of many gifts for their son. He’s just big enough to start enjoying some new toys instead of just teething rings and bells. But Inigo looks across the way to his husband and his face falls when he sees a swirl of what appears to be confusion across his face. “Dear?” He asks cautiously. He pushes himself to his feet to look at what Xander is holding. Did he get him something he doesn’t like? Surely not. Inigo is a well-seasoned gift-giving veteran.

 

But then he sees what’s in the box and he covers his mouth to hide a chuckle. “Oh no, did I label the boxes wrong? That was meant for Sieggy.”

 

It’s a stuffed lion. But it’s not the fact that his husband supposedly gave him a stuffed animal for Christmas that has Xander shocked. It’s that the lion is very specific. A stuffed lion with an emblem on his belly. He was a ruler in an old cartoon that ran when Xander was a boy. He rarely had time to sit down and enjoy the cartoon, of course. Xander’s mother was ill from a young age, and when she passed away his father had to work twice as hard to support his family. Xander, as the oldest, was expected to help take care of his siblings. But, now and then, when little Leo and Elise were gathered in front of the television on a Saturday morning Xander would stop and watch a few moments too.

 

This little lion was a character, not even a main character, in a cartoon series they loved. He led his people with pride and he would do anything for his friends. He was brave, foolishly brave, but secretly harbored a small fear of the dark. Xander always felt very connected to him, even if he never admitted it. He had to grow up fast, after all. He didn’t get to admit his fears quite so often as his siblings.

 

But now he is a grown man. He’s not afraid of nearly as much as he was as a child. He’s just confused by how easily he was dragged through memory lane. “Xander?” Inigo asks again and he snaps his attention to his husband. Gods, how long was he talking? Did he ignore him?

 

“Yes, it’s just mislabeled is all,” He answers slower than usual. He looks back at the lion. Just like he remembers. There’s even that emblem. “Does Siegbert… watch this cartoon?” He had no idea it was still even running. He thought it died out years and years ago.

 

Inigo shakes his head no and settles to sit beside Xander. He reaches for the lid of the box to check the tag and, sure enough, Inigo labeled it wrong. “No, no. It’s from when I was very young. This doll was mine. My mother gave him to me and asked me to be brave like him when I was shy. I found it recently and had it cleaned and repaired because I thought Siegbert might like to have a toy that was passed down from when I was little.” He smiles. He thinks Siegbert is already showing signs of being a shy boy. Maybe a lion to help him be brave will combat that.

 

“I see.” Xander reaches into the box and pulls the lion out. It hardly looks old. Whoever repaired it did a fine job. The bottom is heavier with some beads to make him sit and the stuffing is evenly distributed. There are no stains. Although, now that he looks, he can see some light, faint stitching where a repair was once made.

 

“Dear?” Inigo asks again, “Is something wrong?”

 

“Er,” Xander’s cheeks rarely flush, but they do now. He sets the lion back into the box. “No, of course not.”

 

“You’re a terrible liar.” Inigo argues. He pulls the lion out and frowns at it. “You don’t like him, do you?”

 

“No, that’s not it at all, love. I think Siegbert will love him.” Siegbert is currently gently setting the wrapping paper from his last two gifts into piles. Xander is a little proud of him for it. He’s very good at sorting.

 

“…But..?”

 

Xander laughs something breathy and unexpected. “But I want him, I suppose. I wanted one of these silly lions for years when I was young. How irrational, don’t you think?” He pushes himself to his feet and without allowing his husband to protest he takes the lion and puts it into Siegbert’s hands.

 

Siegbert falls in love at first sight. He puts his fingers through the lion’s mane and his mouth draws into a big grin with only two teeth. He picks him up by the arm and waves the lion around, but then he pulls him close and hugs him like he’s a lifeline. Siegbert obviously wants the lion. Xander crouches to kiss the top of Siegbert’s head.

 

Inigo smiles, proud of them both. “You never needed a lion to help you be brave, you know. You managed to be brave without any help at all.”

 

“Brave enough, I suppose,” Xander admits. He looks back at Inigo. “I hope this doesn’t mean one of Siegbert’s gifts is mislabeled, too.”

 

“Wha,” Inigo blushes. Xander isn’t sure why, but he turns a dark red and starts examining his son’s remaining gifts. Perhaps one of those gifts meant for Xander was meant to be a little _naughty?_

 

Xander lets him work himself into a small frenzy. Then he looks back at his son. He’s trying hard to unwrap what is obviously a ball without letting go of the lion, and so Xander offers him a little help. “May you always be brave, but never have to be, son.” He says a soft, Christmas prayer.

 

**Author's Note:**

> My new year's resolution this year is to write fanfics again.


End file.
